Geneva, June 18 (bdnews24.com) -- Bangladesh has strongly denounced a United Nations resolution supporting equal rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.
The top UN human rights body ? Human Rights Council ? declared in its 17th session on Friday that there should be no discrimination or violence against people based on their sexual orientation, a motion voted narrowly in favour, 23 to 19, with three abstentions.
Bangladesh was among the 19 that voted against the resolution, as were 11 other Muslim nations, and Russia. China abstained from voting.
The controversial resolution marked the first time that the Council recognised the equal rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, diplomats said.
A press release from the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said Bangladesh councillor Nahida Sobhan told the council that Bangladesh supported all human rights, including the right to development and condemned violence against individual groups.
"Bangladesh is disturbed by the focus on personal sexual interests while discrimination based on race, ethnicity, religion and other issues remained ignored," she said, seeking a vote on the resolution.
"There's no legal foundation for this draft resolution in human rights instruments. Bangladesh believes that rights included in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights have been coded into international instruments. By introducing notions not articulated in human rights instruments, these very instruments and the human rights framework are undermined," she said.
The resolution was presented in the council by South Africa.
USA hailed the resolution as historic.
"Allover the world, people face human rights abuses and violations because of their sexual orientation or gender identity, including torture, rape, criminal sanctions, and killing," U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said in a statement issued in Washington.
"Today's landmark resolution affirms that human rights are universal," she said.
Britain, France joined the United States in voting in favour, while Russia voted against and China abstained.
South African Ambassador Jerry Matthews Matjila said the aim was for a dialogue on discrimination and violence meted out to those "whose only crime seems to be their choice in life."
But delegations from Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar and Bangladesh took the floor to reject the text in a heated debate held on the last day of the council's three-week session.
Mauritania's ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, Cheikh Ahmed Ould Zahaf, said the issue did not fall within the scope of any international human rights treaty.
"This issue has nothing to do with human rights," he said, speaking before the vote. "What we find here is an attempt to change the natural right of a human being with an unnatural right. That is why Mauritania calls on all members to vote against it."
Homosexuality is generally taboo in Islamic states as it is seen as a violation of religious and cultural values. Homosexual men in the Gulf are regularly arrested and sentenced to prison terms.
Mexican Ambassador Juan Jose Gomez Camacho said the issue had nothing to do with imposing Western or other values, but with non-discrimination. People are already protected under international treaties against discrimination on grounds of race, religion, and gender, he said.
"Non-discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation is exactly the same," Camacho said, winning applause.
The resolution calls on the office of United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay to draw up the first U.N. report on challenges faced by gay people worldwide.
Her report, due by December, should document discriminatory laws and practices and acts of violence against people based on their sexual orientation and gender identity.
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